Urticales.J 



CANNABINACEiE. 



265 



Order LXXXVI. CANNABINACEiE.— Hempworts. 



Cannabinese, Endl. Gen. xcv, (Oct. 1S37) ; Meisner, p. 348. 



Diagnosis. — Urtical Exogens, icith a solitary suspended ovule, and a hooked exalbuminous 



embryo, with a superior radicle. 



Herbaceous, rough-stemmed, watery plants, with alternate lobed stipulate leaves, and 

 small inconspicuous flowers. Flowers $ <J . ^J in racemes or panicles. Calyx her- 

 baceous, scaly, imbricated. Stamens few, opposite the sepals ; filaments filiform ; 

 anthers terminal, 2-celled, opening lon- 

 gitudinally. ? in spikes or cones. 

 Sepal single, en\\Tapping the ovary. 

 Ovary free, 1 -celled ; ovide soUtary, pen- 

 dulous, campylotropal ; stigmas 2, subu- 

 late, sessile. Fruit indehiscent, with a 

 smgle suspended seed. Embryo without 

 albumen, hooked or spu'ally coiled ; radicle 

 superior, lying agamst the back of the coty- 

 ledons. 



These plants, formerly regarded as a 

 division of Nettleworts, differ from that 

 Order in having theu" seeds suspended, their 

 embryo coiled up, and in wanting albu- 

 men. To the Artocarpads they approach 

 in teclmical characters, differing chiefly 

 in their embryo ; but they have no milky 

 juice, and are widely different m appear- 

 ance. From Morads they are hardly 

 distinguishable except by the absence of 

 albumen. 



Hempworts are fomid wild in the tempe- 

 rate parts of the Old World, in the northern 

 hemisphere. The Hemp Lnliabits the 

 cooler parts of India, whence it has been 

 transported to Europe ; the Hop occurs 

 wild in the South Eastern provinces of 

 Em'ope. 



The valuable fibre called Hemp, is produced by Cannabis sativa, 

 which is hardly less celebrated for its narcotic quaUties. In the 

 elegant language of Endlicher, " EmolHtuni exhilarat animum, 

 impotentibus desideriis tristem stultam leetitiam provocat et 

 • jucvmdissima somnioinmi concihat phantasmata." The Turks 

 employ it under the names of Hadschy and Malach. Linnaeus 

 speaks of its vis narcotica, phantastica, dementens, anodiyna, et 

 repellens. Even the Hottentots use it to get drunk %\'ith, and 4 

 call it Dacha. The Arabians name it Hashish. The Brazilian 

 savages delight in its use. It appears to owe its narcotic pro- 

 })erties to the presence of a resin wliich is not foi-med in Europe. 

 This resin exudes in India from the leaves, slender branches, and flowers ; when col- 

 lected into masses it is the churras or cherris of Nepal. Its odom' is fragi'ant and 

 narcotic, its taste shghtly warm, bitterish, and acrid. — Pharm. Journ. 1. 489. The 

 imbricated heads of the common Hop, Humulus Lupulus, participate ui this quality, 

 and in like manner are used for the purpose of producing intoxication, in the preparation 

 of beer. Then* scales are scattered over mth resinous spherical glands, which are 

 easily rubbed off, and have a powerful agreeable odom', and bitter taste ; they appear 

 to consist of an acrid, ethei'eal oil, an aromatic resin, wax, extractive, and a bitter prin- 

 ciple called LupuUne. By pressure Hopheads yield a green, hght, acrid oil, called Oil 

 of Hops. Its young shoots are eaten as Asparagus, and the roots have been employed 

 as a substitute for Sarsaparilla. 



GENERA. 

 Cannabis, Tournef. \ Humulus, Linn. \ Lupulus, Tournef. 



Fig, CLXXIX. 



Numbers. Gex. 2. Sp. 2. 

 Position. — Urticacese. — Cannabinace^. 



-Moraceee. 



Fig. CLXXIX.— Humulus Lupulus. l.c? flower; 2. ? 

 tion of it, shoving the embryo ; 6. a grain of lupuline. 



3. section of ovary ; 4. ripe fruit ; 5. sec- 



